NHL weekend best bets: Red Wings to best Canadiens in season opener

We have a fun weekend of hockey ahead of us, with 18 games scheduled over the next couple of days.

Let's take a look at a few of the plays that stand out most.

Canadiens (+140) @ Red Wings (-165)
Oct. 14, 7 p.m. EST

The Montreal Canadiens took down the Toronto Maple Leafs in their home opener, but don't let that fool you: Montreal's still a flawed, rebuilding team that'll lose a lot of games this season.

The Detroit Red Wings aren't exactly world-beaters, but they should take a big step forward in 2022-23. They added a lot of solid NHL players in the offseason, headlined by a pair of quality two-way forwards in David Perron and Andrew Copp. Those additions make the top six much more potent.

I think Perron, Copp, Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, and Co. are going to cause the Canadiens' inexperienced defense a lot of problems.

As much as Montreal's young defense battled to hang in there on opening night, the Canadiens still conceded 13 grade A chances in the home-plate area. That's not a winning recipe.

I expect the Red Wings to control the puck for a lot of this game. They'll no doubt come out flying looking to get the home crowd involved, and they have a pretty sizable talent advantage.

So long as they can limit their turnovers and avoid feeding Cole Caufield an abundance of opportunities in transition, the Red Wings should be able to claim two points inside 60 minutes.

Bet: Red Wings in regulation (-110)

Brent Burns over 2.5 shots (-117)
Oct. 14, 10:30 p.m. EST

Burns has been one of the NHL's best volume shooters from the backend for what feels like forever. Although he's getting up there in age, he sure doesn't seem to be slowing down.

Burns shot anything and everything in his debut with the Hurricanes. He generated 10 shot attempts and five shots on goal at five-on-five alone. All situations included, Burns piled up 13 attempts against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

I don't expect that level of volume on a nightly basis, but a trigger-happy player like Burns should be able to generate more than enough to get there against a weak San Jose Sharks team. Not to mention: He'll be extra motivated in his return to his old stomping grounds.

Canucks (TBD) @ Flyers (TBD)
Oct. 15, 4 p.m. EST

The Philadelphia Flyers picked up an upset victory over the New Jersey Devils in John Tortorella's debut behind the bench. While they worked hard and did a nice job of capitalizing on the opportunities created, they didn't play all that well.

Even without captain Nico Hischier, the Devils dominated the puck for much of the game. They won the shot-attempt battle 83-44 and generated seven more high-danger chances.

Philadelphia's bottom six, in particular, was completely overwhelmed at five-on-five.

I think that'll spell trouble for the Flyers against a team like the Vancouver Canucks. Vancouver's taken a balanced approach to its lines, allowing top pivots Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, and Bo Horvat to all drive their own units. Unlike previous years, the Canucks have enough wing talent to do that without spreading themselves too thin.

They played well for most of their season opener in Edmonton before the latter's superstar duo completely took over. Luckily for Vancouver, the Flyers don't have the same high-end talent.

Vancouver will likely have a significant edge in chances. With the better players taking said chances and Thatcher Demko between the pipes, there figures to be a nice edge on the Canucks.

Bet: Canucks (good to -135)

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.